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Podcast episode

Episode 207: Ahab Bdaiwi on ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, his Family, and the Origins of Shi‘ī Islam

We pick up from our last episode, where geopolitics and esotericism met in the crucible of Roman, Sassanian, and Arab political struggles. Ahab Bdaiwi threads the labyrinth of the earliest historical sources for the birth of the movement within Islām which came to be known as the Party of ‘Alī, or the Shi‘ā.

Oddcast episode

Coming Back for More, Part II: Platonic Reincarnation

In Part II we discuss the reincarnational mythoi and logoi found in Plato's dialogues. These are, in many important ways, the foundational documents of western reincarnationism.

Blog post

Dan Levene on Late-Antique Jewish Magic Bowls, Skulls, and More

We speak with Dan Levene, expert on the ancient Judæo-Aramaic incantation-bowls, on the bowls, the skulls, the Talmud, and what all of this tells us about late-ancient Judaism in the Sasanian empire and beyond.

Oddcast episode

Alan Moore on Magic

Say no more.

Oddcast episode

Coming Back for More: The Secret History of Reincarnation in the West, Part I: Pythagoras and the Orphics

In Part I of a thematic series, we begin to explore the long secret history of reincarnation in the west. in this episode we consider our earliest evidence, which clusters around two resonant names: Pythagoras and Orpheus.

Podcast episode

Members only: An Apollonian Man: Plato at the End of Antiquity in the Anonymous Prolegomena

As a coda to our discussion of the final Platonists of Alexandria, we look at the Anonymous Prolegomena to the Philosophy of Plato. This fascinating work, originating in or around the circle of Olympiodorus, has much to tell us about the esoteric hermeneutics of the whole philosophical tradition of Platonism. It also tells us about the henadic virgin birth of the great esoteric sage of antiquity, Plato himself.

Listen to the Introduction

An introduction to the podcast, discussing briefly what we mean by ‘western esotericism’. This episode also answers the burning question, ‘What’s so “secret” about The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast?’ and features a short quiz to test your knowledge of western esoteric history.

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